Male Chest

Get rid of man boobs quickly and easily and get your confidence back!

One of the most embarrassing things for men is the appearance of fat accumulation on the chest. Commonly referred to as “man boobs” this condition affects a large number of men. The medical term for enlargement of the male chest is gynecomastia. Regardless of what you call it, it is a frustrating problem. From young men to old all can be affected. Obviously men who have this problem don’t want to go to the beach or pool shirtless. However, even in slimmer fitting clothing this problem can be visible. Most men with gynecomastia try different diets and exercise hoping that it will go away. They try push ups and bench presses, and other chest exercises but they rarely see any improvement.

If you want to get rid of your man boobs, there is finally a real solution! You can eliminate this problem in one day, in fact in just a few hours. Liposuction is the one and only way to definitively treat this type of problem. It is quick, easy, and done comfortably while you are awake. No one will need to know you had this done. They will just notice a more confident you!

Why do men get chest fat or gynecomastia?

Men of all ages can be affected with gynecomastia. To a large extent genetics plays the most important role, but certainly, a person’s diet and other factors can come into play. There are a few common presentations that we see in our clinic.

Young men – Some men are unfortunate to have genes that lead to fat deposition in the chest. This is a hereditary factor, so often the brother or father also has this characteristic. These men often have a more pronounced protruding chest even in their teens which does not go away even after puberty. This can be a benign condition which liposuction would be the only solution. However, young boys with this type of problem should have a exam by their physician to also eliminate the possibility of a hormonal imbalance.

Obese men –All men as they are gaining weight and becoming obese can accumulate some fat in their chest also. We see a lot of men like this in our clinic. This type of patient who is also obese in other areas is a good candidate for liposuction which will usually get rid of the problem very completely.

Middle aged men – As men reach their 40’s and 50’s they can start accumulating more fat in their chest without really having too much obesity in other areas of their bodies. This is a common phenomenon that is related to a hormonal shift. The testosterone level can drop slightly and the estrogen level can increase slightly. The proportion of these two hormones changing in this way can signal the body to store more fat in the chest. There is a very high satisfaction rate with liposuction of the chest in these men.

Who is a good candidate for chest liposuction?

All men who have a significant amount of fat in their chest can benefit from liposuction. However, for new and rapidly enlarging chest areas especially in a young man, hormonal imbalance has to be evaluated for by a general physician prior to having liposuction. Also, the presence of increased glandular tissue behind the nipple which can feel like a hard mass can also signal the possibility of a hormonal imbalance as the cause of chest enlargement. Other than that, a man needs to be in good health to have liposuction. Men with heart disease, or severe diabetes, or other types of medical problems are probably not good candidates for liposuction. Dr. Su screens his patients thoroughly and can help you determine if you are a good candidate that can expect great results.

What are other surgical alternatives?

Liposuction is the primary surgery that is used to eliminate chest fat in gynecomastia. However, there is a also a surgery to cut out and remove glandular tissue behind the nipple if this is prominent. In this surgery there is an incision made around the areola and the glandular tissue is cut away and the incision stitched back. It is a surgery that is rarely necessary and undesireable in most cases if it can be avoided because of the scar that it leaves around the areola.

For some men who have sagging skin on their chest with the nipple hanging downward, liposuction alone many not be the answer. Liposuction can only remove fat, in which the skin will retract nicely if the surgery is done well. However, even the best liposuction will not remove hanging skin. Therefore a skin tuck may be necessary for these men, in a similar way that women have a breast lift.

Why doesn’t exercise and diet help?

Diet and exercise are both effective for losing weight in the body. However, the fat in the chest area is only about 2 pounds maximum in a really large chest. Even if a man were to lose 10 pounds through diet and exercise, this would result in a very small difference in the chest itself. Most men who have 25% body fat, which is average, will have almost 40-50 pounds of fat total in their body. The body burns fat in a very general fashion so that no one area is emptied of fat when weight is lost. It is not possible to cause the body to burn fat in a particular area by working out particular muscles. That is a myth that seems to perpetuate. The only good way to target and remove fat from an area specifically is liposuction.

Have an expert perform your surgery

Liposuction of the man boobs is done by almost all doctors practicing cosmetic surgery. However, doing liposuction and doing it well are very different things. Good liposuction is going to remove fat very completely and also smoothly. Believe it or not, the industry average for liposuction fat removal is about 50-60%. That is only about half the fat in the area being treated. Many doctors are reluctant to take fat away from the surface close to the skin for fear that they are going to leave it lumpy, and others are just not willing to spend the time it takes to do a complete job. Either way, completeness is one thing that distinguishes a good liposuction doctor from another. This is easily seen in before and after results if you compare surgeons. Smoothness and good blending into surrounding areas is the artistic part of liposuction, since any beginner can take fat. It is the advanced skills of the surgeon that lead to a smooth natural surface that blends in well to surrounding areas with natural contouring. At Artistic Lipo you will have a surgeon who has more experience in liposuction than almost any surgeon in the bay area. Dr. Su is not only artistic with a degree in Fine Arts, but has specialized in liposuction alone for almost 9 years. His results are unsurpassed and are much better than those of general plastic surgeons who try to do everything.

Dr Su’s Interactive Lipo for the Chest

One thing that sets Dr. Su apart from all surgeons performing liposuction is that he has developed advanced techniques of awake liposuction that give him much better control and accuracy during the surgery. Unlike other surgeons who have an awake patient lying there comfortably and often partially sedated, Dr Su keeps his patients fully awake so that they can participate. He has dubbed his method Interactive Lipo because it relies on the patients interaction to achieve the best results. It is kind of like a boot camp where your efforts help give you the results you are looking for. Dr. Su has his patients get in different positions, which would be impossible for an asleep patient and has them tense their bodies. This gives him better sculpting angles, a firmer body to work on, and much better feel of the muscles below to allow more complete sculpting. The patient is asked to stand up periodically to see how the area “hangs” because gravity causes things to bulge in ways that cannot be visualized when a patient is lying on the table. Using all these interactive advantages makes liposuction a fine sculpting endeavor in Dr. Su’s hands compared to surgeries where a patient is asleep and a surgeon is working blind and with less feel for the fat layer, where liposuction is often more like debulking.

Skin Tightening with Chest Lipo

Many patients have heard that liposuction will leave your skin sagging. Although there is some truth to this, you will see that Dr. Su’s sculpting is completely different. Dr. Su has perfected a technique called Skin TiteLipo which causes a great amount of skin retraction in all areas that he treats. In the chest, there will be very little looseness if any in most men. However, with men where the skin is already sagging liposuction may not be the right solution. Dr Su’s liposuction in general results in better skin tightness because of the completeness that it is done to. In many areas of the body, the skin can look looser if only 50% is removed. It is paradoxical, but if 90% is removed the skin can actually tighten much more. Most surgeons have no clue about this because they never treat things this completely, however, you can read about this and see our results (visit Skin Tite Lipo page).

How is Chest Lipo performed

Although liposuction can be performed either asleep under general anesthesia or awake with local anesthesia, doing it awake is the only way Dr. Su performs his surgeries. When you have your chest liposuction, you will have several tiny incisions made on each side. These incisions are about the size of a grain of rice. Through the incision, a solution of saline and lidocaine is infused and your chest will puff up from almost half a liter of fluid being injected into the fat layer. We always stay above the muscle layer and below the skin. A thin instrument known as a cannula is then used to sculpt the fat. Sculpt is a more appropriate word than suction because the instrument scrapes a small amount of fat from the fibrous tissue that holds it all together. The fat is pulled away with suction after it is broken free. Therefore, liposuction when done with a fine shaping in mind is often called liposculpting. Patients are awake the entire time and are comfortable. If there is any stinging or sore area, more lidocaine is injected to return the area to numb.

What is the recovery like

After the chest liposuction is completed, the patient is put into a compressive elastic garment that is worn over the chest. It is low profile and cannot be seen under clothes. This garment is worn for 2 weeks to reduce swelling and hold all areas smooth. There is significant soreness for the first 2 days, that rapidly decreases. You will be sore for several weeks although able to do most activities. Most men will not have to take off work except for the day of surgery.

What is the Cost

Beware of one cost fits all advertisements. There are many ads on the internet for liposuction $999 to $1250 per area. These are the surgeons that you should be wary of. In liposuction surgery we are creating an artistic change that involves different degrees of complexity and work from one patient to the next. The cost of surgery at Artistic Lipo varies from person to person because of the time and effort it will take Dr. Su to perform it well. The chest is a more difficult to perform area because it is more fibrous than most areas on the body. Compared to other areas that may average $2500 for the same approximate size, the chest is more. For the frontal chest alone, which is what most men have, our cost runs between $3000 to $4500. Some men have additional areas that extend to the underarm and sides of the chest wrapping around to the back. These lateral chest areas may add another $2000-$3000 depending on the size.

Fly in accommodations for Chest Surgery

We greatly appreciate all the patients that fly in from out of state or country to have liposuction with Dr. Su, and are used to making living accommodations for these clients. You’ll have a luxury suite in a waterfront apartment with lots of great restaurants within minutes. The beaches are very close by as well as world class attractions an hour away in Orlando.

Setting up a Consult

Consultations for chest surgery are done 5 days a week at Artistic Lipo, and Dr. Su will personally be present and evaluate you. If you are from out of town, we can do evaluation by photograph and Dr. Su can speak with you via phone or Skype. We greatly look forward to meeting you!